Thursday, 9 January 2014

Lian took small steps toward the prisoner kneeling in the middle of the cell. Both his wrists were cuffed with chains, holding him steady on either side. A cup of water sat out of his reach. He looked unconscious, with his face lowered.

Her heart sped up. "Who are you?" she whispered, knowing he wouldn’t respond. She moved closer, intending to touch his head, arm or shoulder—any part of him that would confirm he was real. She reached for him. When her fingertips connected with the coarse stubble, he twitched.

The man raised his head and those intense dark eyes met hers. At first they seemed filled with confusion and anger, but slowly melted into something else—curiosity.
It’s him. It’s really him! Lian took a step back, not in fear but in surprise. She hadn’t expected him to wake up. "Who are you?" she repeated.

"More importantly, who are you?" He looked around the darkened, roofless cell. "And where am I?"

Lian opened her mouth to answer, but Vera charged into the room and grabbed her by the arm. "Come on, we need to go."

She couldn’t respond. Couldn’t do much more than stare at the man kneeling in front of her. The one making her heart feel as if it were about to explode inside her chest. She didn’t want to leave him. Not now, possibly not ever.

How could she feel this way about a total stranger when she constantly argued with her mother about not wanting a man she knew nothing about? No, this was different, because on some bizarre level, she’d known this guy forever.

"We need to go, now!"
Lian took a deep breath and sighed. "I’ll be back," she mouthed.

The man nodded and hung his head, but she kept her eyes on him. Vera practically dragged her out the door. It wasn’t until she heard the sound of footsteps and muffled conversation that she realized just how close her mother and the guards were.